By Diane: Update #4 for Transition to Widowhood: To clutter or not to clutter

In my new larger studio there is space to spread and print onto paper and canvas off of a Formica surface. I allowed a happy accident with the baby wipe torn to become a resist so the underlying paint would not register.  Then the underlying acrylic paint dried.  Spritzing helped make a few more prints. Then the uninticipated surprised me. the baby wipes absorbed the acrylic and printed with interesting effect. Then I pasted the paint saturated baby wipes in front. A story developed. with some accidental straight lines in contrast to the organic bold ones. Nature is strong and our architecture is weak.  Nature wins. And all this when my springboard to an intuitive journey was the subject of clouds. Actually the first print I did was cloud like.

The living room/ studio looked really neat and inviting last week and because it is the first thing seen entering the front door, it needed to be looking orderly. Or is my creative process better if a little cluttered? I will let your imagination be the image of my studio once orderly now actually being used.

I declare a new chapter: Finding meaning for a new painting series.

by Diane: Update #3 for transitionion to widowhood; What looks orderly feels good

 Fisherman Hubby past away a month ago.

  So when I  feel sad the feeling pasts quickly. I have been busy. 

I just have to look around at the rooms as they appear more and more orderly to feel that everything is under control. His clothes were donated to the Red Cross for fire victims of wild fires. The family who received the suitcases full sent a nice thank you note.

His stuff mostly gone: He wouldn't recognize the house. With all that is left inside the house, I've made a shrine with his high school graduation picture, his iconic wool fishing hat and four lens fishing glasses that gave him the look of an insect, the red tee with Poloneisian style representations of sharks, a leaded fishing lure tied to a hook, his 1961 high school anual, and other personal momentoes. These special, sentimental things are in an office cabinet he built 40 years or more ago.  The candle holder on top of the cabinet is from a magnolia tree that he helped a neighbor salvage the blonde colored wood. The flame snuffer was his creation. The stoneware plate under the candle was one he made.  His bright warmth continues in his room although it is now being made comfortable for overnight guests.  What was our living room is now a room for just my living, The stout workbench that he made,was moved from the small bedroom to the left of the front door. In the "living" room I can paint, read, eat, watch TV, do Tai Chi, and do office work. In the garage his fishing Almar Aluminum boat remains prepared for going fishing as he wished.  The kokanee count he did for ODFW from his last trip on Green Peter, March 23, is still on the stern. Year of his last solo boat trip 2020 ?

   My new life style is stabalizing at home thanks to the help of family and friends. Fisherman Hubby would be happy that the furniture he crafted and the ranch style home he modified, with sky lights, is continuing to make me happy.

 

by Diane: Update #2 for Transitions into Widowhood: Friday finally took an art break

 

Oddly I find I did not need an art escape when I was making creative choices like moving furniture, rolling up a carpet and arranging my brushes like flowers in vases and displaying them on the fireplace mantel. Then on Tuesday the ashes and the death certificates were ready. Fearing I would be too emotional to drive safely, a wonderful neighbor took me to Corvallis and kept me company.  Since then there have been many estate changes.  So Friday I was ready to take the whole day off to paint for three hours with a friend I have not seen in years. It was nice to start at 10:30 but soon the rain showers came. Under the patio cover we were fine.

   The triptych has little intention.   It could be a study of clouds in transition. The thrill of working widely mindful always every mark lined up with the energy flowing through the whole - that is a goal.

by Diane: Update #2 for transitioning into widowhood: Taking license to change my mind

Experimenting to find out how little I need to change to dramatically improve the useage of my home now that it is just for me. I considered making the shop a painting studio. It is big. I would have freedom of movement and no worries about moving the paint around and getting some on the floor or walls.

 I changed my mind. It really isn't necessary to redo everything in Fisherman Hubby's shop.  Maybe after straigntening and cleaning it, the shop will be a good place to learn to make frames. Tuesday, Ocober 27, I was certain that the living room would be my office/ painting studio and I continued to move into my new creative space..

 Saturday afternoon, October 24, Barbbara Levine and I did our second session painting a mandala.

Saturday evening after a daughter's visit, October 24,

 This is the seventeenth day of widowhood.  I am beginning to reshape the house. I was thinking of making the shop an art studio until a daughter changed my mind.  Looking at the shop, it would be nice to keep it a shop because with a little dusting and straightening it up it would be a delightful place as is. Here is part of Fisherman's legacy.  Also great for storing oil paintings in the summer time!   After airing it out, I do not smell heavy gasoline fumes. I might even become expert in framing my own paintings.

Sunday, October 28.

Quickly I write before the wind kicks up and the 22 degree freeze tonight,  these wintry predictions had me anxious at 4:30 AM this morning.  But feel much calmer at noon now that I filled the patio wood box with wood. Made sure I had help after my poor attempt to split kindeling. The hammer was heavy and of course I picked a piece with a knot that wouldn't buge. A neighbor just pulled it apart with his bare hands. The neighbor's kids came too and found pearl like seeds in the Nakid Lady flowers.

When I picked up and carried hoses to the shop I must have accidently hit the Medical Guardian  alert buton.  So I was surpised when two Fire Department EMTs paid me a visit.  They were very nice about my false alarm.

After I cook up more food in case of a power failure, I will paint a little. The easel now in the living room waits to see if  I like the livingroom's natural North light. I think I will stay in this old house. 

Tuesday, October 27

Although my canvas is on the easel and my paints wait in a cart, I did not paint yet today. I went through the entry cabinet by the front door. I  continued to move things like the childhood games to a shelf near the computer. Children's art stuff is still in the entry cabinet.  The cabinet was used as a place to dump greeting cards. The ones from Fisherman brought tears to my eyes. Though not ofton spoken, he signed his name after writing "love". 

 

Transitions

by Rain Trueax

Rain Rock Casino-- Yreka, California

Holy Mackerel, what is going on with time? It seems we just got home with a blog to share but now, time to write another one. Ack. 

Mostly the days after we got home have been about unpacking (a lot goes between homes) and then rearranging the house. When we are gone (with current agreement), our son lives here sometimes with his boys. He takes care of the livestock; and although in town, he has a duplex, he tends to be out here the most due to the needs of the animals. He then, of course, arranges things to suit himself. We come home and have to arrange it to suit ourselves. This business of sharing a home may not work long term for him or us. We are all feeling our way through it. One way or another, change has to come.